


A new finish

by bedtime_writer



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural (TV) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Destiel+Cockles AU-Fest 2015, Inspired by Twist and Shout - gabriel & standbyme, M/M, Multi, Supernatural Elements, twist and shout alt.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 07:27:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6695395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bedtime_writer/pseuds/bedtime_writer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This takes place shortly after Dean goes to Vietnam.  Rather than Adam dying, Dean is wounded.  Cas is affected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A new finish

**Author's Note:**

> ***Partway through Vietnam***

Dean sat by his bedside, the humming of the hospital room filled his ears as he watched his Cas breath heavily under the white sheets. This is what he came home to. Dean thought back to the airport, how he waited to see Cas’s soft face and run his hand through his black hair. There was no Cas though. He remembered how his heart sank, it had been less than a year. Apparently one shot through your kidney is a one way ticket home. Dean could only imagine what kind of call Cas received.  
“Mr. Castiel Novak?” a nameless soldier on the other line asked.  
“This is him,” Cas could feel it somewhere inside him, something was not right.  
“I’m sorry to inform you, your, erm, friend, Dean…” and that was when Cas’s heart fell deep, and a cage was put around his chest. He was hardly even breathing, his body became still and cold.  
“What is it, what about him, dammit he promised me! what ?” Cas felt his whole body heat back up rapidly as some kind of anger filled him up.  
“He’s been shot, he has severe wounds, a punctured kidney” Cas stopped listening. His head filled with a ringing sound that blocked out the whole world around him. His once angered self was now full of emptiness. He knew his lungs were still inside him because he could feel the invisible cage put around them, but he could not make them breath. He was lost inside of himself, “hello? Mr. Castiel?” The soldier buzzed in his ear, bringing Cas back into the world.  
“Hi, no I’m here…”  
“As I said, he’s undergoing major procedures, we just don’t have organs here up for donations, ya know. If all goes well, Dean will be discharged and sent home. Right now, the odds are slim… I’m sorry.” The phone clicked and Cas dropped it to the floor. You could hear the buzzing of the empty line. You could hear everything, the blood rushing in Cas’s veins as they left his cold, broken heart, the tears forming within his eyes as they were gaining enough pressure to leave, you could even hear the last breath Cas took before he collapsed to the ground.  
Sam had also received the call about Dean. His heart too, had sunk. Sam carried more strength however. After hanging up the phone, he took it off the line again to call Cas, assuming Cas had already heard the news. When Sam called, the line was busy. Maybe, he thought, they had called Sam first. He gave it time. About half an hour later Sam called again, still busy. Jess was with Sam when they received the word, she thought maybe it would be best to go over and see him face to face.  
The door of the apartment Cas and Dean once shared was unlocked and left open. When Sam and Jess arrived, to their dismay, glass had been shattered everywhere. That “busy” line was simply the receiver laying in a pool of liquor and glass.  
“CAS!” Sam called, but it was for nothing. Cas left shortly after he had recovered from fainting. Jess knew he would not be home.  
Cas had already been to two bars within the fourty-five minutes of the phone call. He came the first, the one half a block away, an old pub no one really went to. After downing four glasses of whiskey, he was well on his way to what he thought was recovery. When the fifth glass came, a man walked into the bar wearing a military uniform, surrounded by friends. Cas overheard that he was back from the war, that he was done with service. Without reason, Cas went over to the retired soldier, and something had overcome him. He through the first punch, right into the man’s jaw.  
“What makes you special?! Why do you get to come home? Dean?” Cas cried, “Why can’t Dean come home, he promised. Dean you promise!” Cas screamed, he through the second punch. The man and his company started to fight back. Cas was left bloody and disheveled. The bartender kicked him out. On the the second bar he went. It was the one Dean had worked at, before he left of course. Cas had not been there since before Dean’s departure. When he walked in, blood dripping down the corner of his newly blackened eye, the bartender felt pitty.  
“Cas, I didn’t think you would be coming here. Your cousin…” The bartender stopped. He had nothing really to say, nothing that would console or make things better.  
“He wasn’t my fucking cousin.” Cas replied, “Whiskey please.” It was after the third one here that Cas had blacked out. Sitting in a corner booth, by himself, no one even noticed. Sam and Jess walked in. They scanned the room and when Sam caught a glance at Cas, he ran towards him.  
“Cas!” Sam screamed, shaking him in attempt to wake him up. It was useless.  
“You can’t just shake him Same!” Jess cried. She always saw the way Cas and Dean looked at each other, it was something she loved. Like the romance novels she had read all coming to life, “ he’s not even breathing Sam.” Sam would not believe it, he hardly heard Jess’s words. He shook Cas again, doing anything to bring his friend back. With the last shake, the liquor Cas had tried to drown himself in left his body. Still, he was not awake.  
Sam got the tab. Jess and him worked on trying to get Cas into the back of his pick up to bring him to the hospital. Jess sat in the back with Cas’s head on her lap. She stroked his cheek, bloodied and beaten, she could feel the stress of these past few months under all the bruises. A tear rolled down her cheek, dropping onto Cas’s.  
Once they reached the hospital, they were met by a stretcher, Cas was brought to have his stomach pumped. It had been six hours since Cas had been admitted. He was still unconscious, but he was at least breathing. Nurses have been in an out attaching monitors and taking tests.  
“He’s put himself in a coma,” the doctor told Jess and Sam, “his brain underwent a severe amount of stress, his body has shut down. There’s no telling right now when he may awaken… It could be tonight, it could be weeks. I’m sorry.” Sam and Jess spent the first night at the hotel. The doctor told them there had been no progress.  
Sam kept thinking of his brother. He decided Jess should head home, just in case someone called about any new information. Jess agreed, she kissed Cas on the forehead and whispered reassuring things into his ear. When she arrived back at her home, there was a red light flashing on the phone. She ran to it to listen to the voicemail.  
“Hello Sam Winchester, it’s Private Adam Milligan. I’m calling about the progress of your brother Dean. He underwent surgery and his kidney is in better condition than we first thought. We will be calling again soon to tell you when he wakes up.” Jess was ecstatic. She thought to wait on telling Sam until after she heard that he was awake. She quick took a shower, as she was stepping out the phone rang. She dropped the towel and ran out.  
“Hello?” she answered,  
“Umm Winchester home?” the voice said. It sounded like Adam, the boy who left the earlier voice mail.  
“Yes it is, Sam is out, but I’m with him… You have news?” Jess asked.  
“Yes we do, Dean woke up about twenty minutes ago. He’s not eating yet, but he will soon, he’s talking a bit and…” Jess felt the tone of the boy’s voice change, “and you know, he’s a really great man, ma’am. He saved my life. I’ve got to know him… that’s why I’ve been calling Cas… he’s told me about him you know. Dean is just a great man, he didn’t ever deserve this hell hole. Be grateful he’s in your life.” Jess smiled, then she thought about Cas and where he was at.  
“About Cas, he isn’t well… I don’t know if you want to tell Dean that or not, but after he heard the news… He’s in a comma.” Jess was not sure if this was the right thing to do or not, but said it anyways.  
“I will tell Dean, I’m so sorry. I think though, Dean will need a week to recover then he will be sent back to you folks… Thanks again.” The line clicked and Jess headed right back to the hospital, praying that Cas would be awake. He was not,  
“He’s awake! Dean is okay!” Jess smiled at Sam, and though they were worried for their small friend beside them, some kind of joy filled the room. Sam jumped up and grabbed Jess, lifting her into the air he spun her around. As he brought her back down, he kissed her.  
“Ya hear that Cas?! Dean’s coming home!” Sam said, grabbing Cas’s face in his hands. The both of them spent the night there with Cas. In the morning they retired to their own home for showers and real food.  
The phone rang sometime that afternoon while Sam and Jess were wrapped in eachother’s arms on the couch. Sam got up to answer it.  
“Sam Winchester, this is Private Adam Milligan. Just some final news, your brother is a real fast recoverer. We would like to keep him here, ya know, he’s a real great soldier. He’s ready to go home though. He says he needs his people. Dean will be at the airport for you guys next Tuesday.” Adam sounded a little sad about Dean’s leaving, but he knew it was for good.  
“Thank you so much, Adam,” Sam started,  
“Um, Sam… Dean’s been talking a lot about Cas… Ya know I know about them… So I didn’t have the heart to tell him about his current condition.”  
“That’s alright Adam, just make sure he makes it back to us.” Sam hung up the phone and went back to Jess. Things were going to be alright, in just three days, their Dean would be home.  
In Cas’s world of dreams, he was alone in the hospital room. He could see the door start to open. It was Dean. He was home to him, he was okay. Cas would smile and reach out his hand to see it taped up and covered in tubes. He wanted to scream and jump up, but Dean would come to his bedside and put his hand on Cas’s. He would run his fingers through his hair and whisper.  
“Shh baby, I’m home. I’m home now, love,” Dean would say over and over. Cas wanted to wake up to see his Dean, but his heart would not let him. What if Dean was not really there? The thought of Dean being gone hurt Cas’s body in such a physical way, it was killing him. If Dean was gone, Cas really should be too.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It was 6:30am in Vietnam. Dean was bandaged up, ready to board that big Russian plane to go back home. Thoughts of Cas ran through his mind. His soft black hair, the bright, deep sea blue of his eyes, and the warmth his body radiated as they lie together. He got butterflies, maybe from the plane taking off, or maybe from the thought of kissing Cas. He popped two Aspirin and dozed of dreaming about time with Cas.  
Hours later, Dean awoke as the pilot told him they would be flying over northern California. Dean looked out the small scratched up window next to him, he could see the beach. The very beach he had brought Cas to all that time ago. The waves crashed against the shore below him.  
Within twenty minutes, Dean’s plane had hit the runway. Sam’s pick up was parked nearby. Dean felt the return of those butterflies, knowing this time it was certainly for Cas. He grabbed his bags, put his hat on, and stood. This scene had played over and over in his mind. Dean was glad now, glad that he had left before his year was up. He had seen the damaging affects the war had on his men. He could only imagine what kind of monster too much exposure would have turned him into. Six months was more than enough.  
“Dean, we will honor you in DC when the rest of your platoon returns, six months from now. You don’t have to be their, man, but you really should. We’ll give you more information when the time comes.” The pilot was one of the men that was dragged out of his home to fight this bloody war, Dean thanked him, gave a salute, and left the plane. No way was he ever going to go back. He decided he would rather wait for the medal to come in the mail. Unless Cas wanted to see the capital of course.  
As Dean left the plane, his eyes instantly searched the crowd. There were families everywhere. Women with tears rolling down their cheeks, holding infants that had never seen their fathers. And there was Sam and Jess. He ran to them.  
“Sammy!” Dean cried as he pulled his brother into his arms. “Oh, Sammy, you guys!”  
“Dean, you look great.” Sam said, a look of worry overtook his face.  
“Where is he?” Dean searched some more. “Where’s Cas?” It was then Dean realized that the scenes he replayed over and over would not come to be.  
“Dean, he’s in the hospital… he’s…” Sam was cut off instantly,  
“Why? What happened? Who hurt him? Take me there!” Dean felt his face heat up, hotter than noon in Vietnam. He got in Sammy’s pick up, a tear rolled down his face.  
“We’ll bring you there, but don’t you want to shower up? change? “ Sam asked.  
“NO. Let’s just go, I need to see him Sammy, I need to go.”  
“Alright, well let us just fill you in.” Jess told Dean about what happened to Cas.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Sam lead them to the room. 237. As they opened the door, Dean saw him. Tiny in even that small bed. Tubes were wrapped around his face and hands. A hum of machines, possibly keeping his Cas alive, filled the air with noise.  
“We’ll let you be with him.” Sam and Jess left the room. Dean stood by Cas’s bed. He was scared to move closer. What if the warmth that was once Cas’s soft touch had disappeared? What if Cas could never wake up? Dean was killing him. He should have let the wounds kill himself, because the pain of seeing Cas, practically dead, was ten thousand times more painful than the shrapnel wound he carried. Regardless of his fears, Dean moved closer.  
“Cas.” Dean cried in a painfully raspy voice. “Cas, love, I’m home. Like I promised. Where are you?”  
Somewhere amongst his dreams, Cas heard a voice. A voice coated in pain and sorrow, filling his head with a flood of memories. It was like the Hoover Dam’s walls had opened and the water rushed out destroying everything around it. His brain was being flooded with memories, sounds, and smells. It was filled with Dean. It was Dean’s voice. No longer a dream, it was his real voice, his real Dean!  
“Cas, I love you. I’ll never leave you. I’m here, baby. I’m home.” Tears were falling off Dean’s face, faster than before. “Come home to me.”  
Cas’s heart rate increased, his eyes began to flutter. Light filled up his mind as he tried to open them up. His eyes broke open.  
“You came home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to leave comments :)


End file.
